The End | {BOOK 5}

59| Back in Purgatory

We came through the rift, appearing in a familiar forested terrain I never thought any of us would set foot in again. I adjusted my grip on my Purgatory blade, glancing around at our surroundings.

"I mean, how the hell are we supposed to even know what we're looking for here?" Dean grumbled, adjusting his grip on his shotgun. "You know, Michael coulda done us a solid and drawn us a picture."

"You know, all the time I've been in Purgatory," Cass began, surveying the area, "I've never seen a bloom of any kind."

"Yeah. Exactly," I nodded.

"Well, if we see it, we'll know. It's likely to be the only flower here."

"Alright," Dean agreed. "Well, maybe we'll run into Benny. He's probably the king of this place by now."

He glanced at the countdown on his watch until the rift closed- just under eleven hours remaining.

"Okay. Let's split up."

Cass and I both looked at Dean like he'd lost his mind.

"What?" I demanded.

"You go that way, Cass goes that way and I go this way. We'll meet back up at the rift, alright? We'll cover more ground. We'll better our odds."

"Yeah. We'll also improve our odds of getting lost or killed. Come on."

I took the lead, picking a direction with Cass on my heels and Dean bringing up the rear. After a little while, we realized we had a Leviathan on our trail, but didn't acknowledge it in any way. Cass had taken up the lead, since he had a better sense of direction than I did. Finally, when we stopped, Dean claiming we were lost, the Leviathan made its move.

With a gesture from Cass, however, the creature was sent flying before it could do any damage.

"Ugh," he grunted.

"You're right," Dean smirked. "It is a different corpse."

I rolled my eyes as Cass addressed the Leviathan.

"We saw you following us."

"Thought you'd never make your move," I added.

"What do you want?" the Leviathan asked.

"Well, it's a little embarrassing saying it out loud, but we're looking for a flower," Dean replied.

"A flower? What do I look like, a florist?"

"Well, if you can't help us, see this boom stick?"

Dean brandished his gun for the Leviathan to see.

"It's loaded with Borax-filled shells. You know what Borax does to piranha-faced freaks like you? I'd be happy to show you."

"We don't call it a flower," the creature informed us. "There's a blossom. Grows out of the soil when we die."

"When... Leviathan die?" Cass clarified.

The Leviathan nodded.

"Oh, okay. Cool."

Dean stood up, cocking the gun and preparing to kill the monster.

"I- Hey!" it protested. "The body has to rot. It can take months. And then these blossoms bloom. Tan husks, bloody red centers. I know a place. Not far."

"And look at that," I smirked. "Thought you weren't a florist. Get up."

The Leviathan stood, starting to walk off in the direction we needed to go.

"Wait," Dean stopped him. "You know a vamp around here named Benny? Burly guy, Cajun?"

"No," the Leviathan shook his head. "Heard of him, though. Everybody has. The guy who got out and then came back. Like an idiot."

"Pretty much. Where is he?"

"Dead. Long time ago. His own kind- they didn't trust him, and they- ksch!-" the Leviathan mimed getting his head chopped off, "ripped him apart."

Cass and I both gave Dean a sympathetic look. Even my heart gave a pang of sadness at the thought of Benny being dead dead. I had only just started to mend my relationship with him when Dean and I sent him back here. But Dean was the one who was closest to the vamp. I could see the warring emotions under his cool façade as he stared unblinkingly at the Leviathan.

"Move," he growled, shoving the creature with his gun.

⁘

"It's up this way. Just like I promised."

Up ahead was a field of rotting Leviathan corpses, accompanied by strange looking flowers just like the Leviathan had described.

"Leviathan blossom," I stated.

"Alright, well, grab one," Dean said. "Let's get the hell out of here."

Cass stepped forward to grab one of the flowers, but got stopped just out of reach of them.

"Cass?" I asked.

"It's an angel trap. You tricked us."

"Mother's got beef with you," the Leviathan grinned.

"Eve," Cass swallowed.

"Eve," the Leviathan confirmed. "Killing her alphas, swallowing her Leviathan. Bringing you to her should earn us a nice reward."

"What do you mean, 'us'?" Dean questioned.

"Dean! Eleanor!" Cass cried.

A group of Leviathan jumped out and ambushed us. Dean and I each got a few rounds off of Borax shells, but there were too many of them and they knocked us out. When we came to, Cass was gone and the blossoms had been burned away with fire.

"No," I breathed, looking around at the torched remains.

"Cass? Cass!" Dean yelled.

⁘

At just under half an hour left and no sign of Cass, Dean did something I wasn't expecting. He fell to his knees and prayed. He apologized to Cass and told him that he forgave him. I also chimed in, letting go of the hurt and anger that I'd been harboring toward the angel that allowed me to let him walk out after the ghostpocalypse.

When we'd finished, we decided to just head toward the rift and hope for the best. When we arrived with roughly three minutes to go, we found Cass huddled at the base of a tree nearby.

"Dean. Eleanor."

"Cass?"

"You made it," the angel grinned.

"We made it," I echoed.

Cass stood, hugging Dean and then me.

"You okay?" Dean asked him.

"I'm fine."

"What happened?"

"They were after me, not you. I figured it would be safest to give myself up."

"They take you to Eve?"

"Yeah. We were en route. I waited until I... saw this."

From his coat, Cass pulled a slightly misshapen Leviathan blossom.

"It got a little smushed," he mumbled.

Dean and I both chuckled.

"Once I had the blossom, I fought," Cass continued, "caught them off guard. They fought back. I managed to get away."

"You did it," Dean grinned. "You did it, Cass."

"Well, they're still after me. We should hurry."

"Okay, Cass, we need to say something," I began.

"You don't have to say it," Cass shook his head. "I heard your prayer."